Inside T-Hub, Asia’s very first crypto clubhouse in Bali

Cryptocurrency and fintech are all the hype these days. T-Hub, a Bali-based crypto clubhouse knows all about it. Here’s a sneak peek inside.

If you’re willing to take a deep dive, learn more about cryptocurrency, and expand your crypto literacy, Indonesia’s most prominent crypto-assets digital exchange, Tokocrypto has launched T-Hub, a Bali-based crypto clubhouse that aims to facilitate crypto education to audiences IRL and empower the community by providing them with the knowledge and skills required to make the most out of the opportunities in the crypto economy. 

Pang Xue Kai, CEO of Tokocrypto explains, “The idea is to bring the community together to provide real, tangible tools to help them engage with cryptocurrency and the endless opportunities within the sphere. The facility is a combination of your typical Bali sanctuary, an educational centre, and a clubhouse where people can socialise and experience real-life crypto events.”

At the 1,000-square-foot locale, blockchain and crypto leaders can gather in-person, learn, and brainstorm new ideas — think discussions rooms, co-working spaces, as well as food and beverage outlets.

 

 

Intrigued? We sat down with Pang to find out more about Asia’s very first crypto clubhouse.

Inside T-Hub, Asia’s very first crypto clubhouse

Hi Xue Kai, could you share a little about the inspiration behind setting up T-Hub? 

Prior to the pandemic, we consistently had people over at our Jakarta office, simply to ask crypto-related questions, inquire on community events and socialise. While we embrace the digital nature of cryptocurrency, we realised the importance of human connections and the human touch beyond the digital realm. Therefore, we decided to create a physical space to expand crypto-related activities where like-minded people across Asia and beyond are able to come together to connect, learn and exchange technical knowledge and expertise in order to elevate digital innovation 

The facility, located in the heart of Bali, spans over 1,000 square feet inclusive of media halls, discussion rooms, co-working spaces and F&B outlets. We look forward to welcoming everyone into the-state-of-the-art TKO-powered facility to dwell in new and current crypto ideas within a dedicated safe space, while socialising over food and drinks in what we call our community centre. 

T-Hub is also a part of the newly established Tokoverse built by Tokocrypto to accelerate financial inclusivity in the country and across Asia. Under its umbrella, we have also created TokoLaunchpad, our accelerator programme, TokoMall, Indonesia’s first and largest NFT marketplace and Kriptoversity, a mobile application for crypto education. At T-Hub, we’d like to be able to spread this message of delving into a credible digital space through a physical community. 

For T-Hub, the mission is to empower the crypto community to form a collective vision that will transform the region. By equipping locals with the requisite knowledge and skill sets to capitalize on the infinite potential of the crypto economy.

It’s mentioned that T-hub will be a physical space for the crypto community, “giving them a space to gather, ideate, create, improve, innovate or simply live the crypto lifestyle, through the sheer utility of Toko Token” — how exactly does that work? 

Like your typical community centre, T-Hub hosts events ranging from technical trading workshops to more creative experiences, such as masterclasses from local upcoming NFT artists which we recently conducted with Raka Jana. We also invited 22-year old student, Sultan Gustaf Al Ghozali who made headlines in Indonesia and the world after making $1M selling his NFT selfies, to T-Hub’s launch event early this year.

Currently at T-Hub, we host a minimum of two events per week called Monday Talk and Friday Talk where we cover a variety of topics related to crypto, NFTs, blockchain and the tech world. The speakers come from within the community as we look to create an ambience where people can learn from one another. A few other meet-ups have also taken place since the opening, such as Crypto Girls in Bali and Chainlink meet-ups as well as panel discussions on Women in Blockchain and so on. 

Through Tokocrypto’s Toko Token (TKO), we plan to further bridge the gap between the online and offline communities in the form of a loyalty points system for which we are exploring the idea of connecting these communities through a TKO Cashback program.  Customers who patronize the merchant partners of the program would be rewarded with TKOs based on their retail spendings. In this manner, our TKO Cashback program would be rewarding the lifestyles of members of the community as illustrated by their retail spendings with the merchant partners of the program.

We’d assume that the people who are coming to T-hub are those who have quite a bit of experience in the crypto field, but would you say that T-hub would be a good physical space for those who are just coming in to learn more about it? Can anyone sign up for T-hub? 

We have created T-Hub with the intention of bringing together enthusiasts, novices, traders — absolutely anyone within and beyond the crypto community — to come together with the same purpose. We welcome everyone to make full use of the facilities available at T-Hub – whether you’re a DeFi farmer, general crypto investor, a creator or builder of on-chain platforms, a stakeholder of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry or someone who is simply interested in expanding knowledge in blockchain and cryptocurrency. 

We have also incorporated our programs such as TokoMall and Kriptoversity within the space to allow first-time crypto learners to engage with and liaise with experts, crypto-enthusiasts and investors. This will provide them with the necessary tools to then jump straight into the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency.

In that same line of thought, digital tokens don’t take on a physical form, which translates to not being bound by a fixed location. What’s the significance of having a physical meeting space for Asia’s crypto community? 

The pandemic-induced lockdowns encouraged us to further work on the urge of finally introducing a physical space to explore innovation in blockchain and cryptocurrency for when things returned to normal. Even though cryptocurrency operates within a digital realm, the significance of having offline physical communication among enthusiasts and first-time learners is something we would like to embrace and foster. 

At T-Hub, we are also looking to expand communication not just within Indonesia and among Indonesians, but globally too. Digital innovation is advancing differently across the globe and we look forward to bringing people together for the shared purpose of elevation. For us, this is just the beginning – we plan to establish many more T-Hubs in Indonesian cities as we expand our services. 

We understand that Tokocrypto is Indonesia’s leading crypto exchange, but why Bali? 

Apart from being the country’s most popular tourist destination to locals and foreigners, the island has abundant resources and good accessibility, making it a strategic location for investors and businesses. Bali has become a centre stage in thriving cryptocurrency as  the number of crypto investors soared last year as NFTs developed a strong presence on the island. 

The number of Tokocrypto users in Bali has also increased to 28,000 in 2021 as compared to only 900 in 2020, making this another one of the reasons that prompted us to establish T-Hub on the island. We are looking forward to an even more successful 2022 considering that Indonesia has recently reopened its borders to international arrivals without quarantine regulations. We currently welcome approximately 200 visitors per week but as Bali tourism is slowly but surely picking up, we expect this number to multiply in the near future.

How has Asia’s crypto community grown over the years?

The crypto community is in a flux right now, with greater acceptance and public growth on one end, and facing regulatory scrutiny on the other. There is no doubt that Asia is witnessing a massive revolution as crypto and blockchain investments in APAC hit $3.1 billion in 2021. The community is gravitating towards the metaverse and how people will come together to bridge the online and offline world. All of this is only possible through continued innovation.

It is critical to structure the country’s crypto regulatory framework without taking away flexibility. Regulation is a part and parcel of Asia’s crypto journey and it is all a matter of finding the right balance between encouraging innovation in the sector and protecting consumers from risks. If this balance is achieved, crypto traders will continue their crypto business with great results.

So, what’s next? 

In the future we plan to continue to be involved in nurturing the blockchain community in Bali, while at the same time providing more utilities to our TKO holders through T-Hub’s facilities. As we continue to conduct our weekly talks, we will also host meet-ups for TKO holders in Bali in addition to organizing NFT Clinics and other collaborative events with local communities like Superlative Secret Society and Majalabs. 

Besides that, we have tentative plans to upscale the NFT art gallery at T-Hub into an all-immersive digital art gallery that would be bringing to life the concept of the Metaverse. The idea is to use NFT art pieces as access points through which visitors to T-Hub would be transported to the Metaverse when they enter the NFT art gallery at T-Hub. Afterall, art is very much a part of local culture which in turn is a signpost for the lifestyles of members of a community and T-Hub is a place where visitors can experience the crypto lifestyle.

As for TKO itself, we are toying with the idea of setting up an all-in-one wallet for TKO which would enable TKO users to store, swap, stake and spend their TKOs through a single platform. The idea is to bring together the various features and functionalities of TKO in one place to offer TKO users comprehensive utility that is accessible in a manner of sheer convenience. Afterall, utility and convenience are two sides of the lifestyle coin and TKO is a token which aims to help its users embrace the crypto lifestyle. That said, these plans are still very much in an exploratory stage which means that they are anything but set in stone at this juncture.

Find out more about T-hub here.

This article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Singapore.